The Minister said this yesterday at a meeting at Badi in Raisen district about 100 kms from here in the presence of the senior BJP leader herself and leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

Patwa made similar remarks at an election rally at Obaidullahganj also in Raisen district when Sushma was listening to him amid big cheers.

The minister represents Bhojpur seat in the Madhya Pradesh assembly and this is part of the Vidisha parliamentary constituency from where Sushma is contesting for the second time in succession since the 2009 LS polls.

Introducing Sushma as the next probable deputy PM to the voters, the Minister said his remarks were only a reflection of the feelings of BJP workers in the constituency, which has elected biggies like Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Patwa is the nephew of former State Chief Minister Sunderlal Patwa and a close aide of Chouhan.

A few days ago, Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal at a rally in Amritsar, had suggested that BJP stalwart Arun Jaitley could be the next deputy PM but the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha had downplayed the comment.